


Fun For Everyone

by sillykos (statikos)



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, MakoHaruRin Week, Riding School AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 16:10:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3494672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/statikos/pseuds/sillykos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boy Haru meets at the One Day Event is, to be honest, a bit of a dork.</p><p>[ Written for Day 4 of MakoHaruRin Week. Prompt was: Alternate Universe/Reality. ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fun For Everyone

**Author's Note:**

> This is why you shouldn't trust me. One day I will be doing my very best to make serious AUs that encourage people to ask themselves hard questions, and the next... I will do things like this.  
> Behold, the epic riding school AU created by me and my girlfriend. We are just focussing on these three right now as it's MHR Week and I'm on a time limit, but there's a good chance I'll later lose enough of my self-respect and add to this (we had some pretty hilarious ideas for some of the other riders and their horses, buahaha).  
> The title is a Saddle Club reference. That pretty much says all that needs to be said about this. jfc
> 
> ...I know I talk about this like it's a joke, but I secretly really love this idea. I rode competitively in my teens whereas I do not know shit about competitive swimming, so this is much easier for me than canon quite honestly. lol.

“Haru, you shouldn’t let Puddles eat with her bit on. You know you’ll have to clean it later.”

“She did a good job,” Haru says simply, sitting down in the grass by the horse’s head with the reins still in hand.

Makoto sighs and dismounts Clover to stand over him. “It won’t take you _that_ long to get her bridle off and put her back in her halter. She can eat while we wait for the twins.”

Haru stares down into the grass between. “I guess.”

“Come on.” Shifting Clover’s reins into one hand, he reaches out for Haru with the other. “Let’s go back to the float.”

Accepting the lift to his feet, Haru gives Puddles’ head a gentle tug. The paint mare snorts at him in response, before sluggishly falling into step beside him. A tuft of grass still sticks out from one side of her lip. Makoto _is_ right. There’s probably green gunk all over the stupid bit by now… but Puddles does what she wants. When Haru first started riding her, she had barely listened to him—or anyone else, for that matter—but in time his stubbornness had won her over. They are as bad as each other sometimes, or so Makoto says, although Haru doesn’t have to wear a red ribbon on his hindquarters to tell people that he kicks. (He doesn’t, though he’d like to sometimes.)

They hitch the horses to the back of the float and remove their tack. The thick smell of sweaty fur fills the air, and Haru sits in the grass again between the two horses while Makoto goes to fill up the water buckets.

A tall shadow passes over him as he waits, and he looks up to see if it’s Makoto… but no, it’s just some idiot with red hair, leading a bay. He ignores him and starts absently braiding a few blades of grass.

“Hey.” He’s probably talking to someone else, so Haru doesn’t look up. Then, after an awkward pause, he say it again. “ _Hey_.”

Maybe he’s just lost or something. Haru wouldn’t be surprised, looking at him; he’s one of _those_ riders, reeking of the city, with jodhpurs that are just a bit too white and a show helmet that matches the colour of his tie and jacket. Probably likes dressage too much… and his mum probably drives him to all of his pony club meets.

(To be fair, _Makoto’s_ mum had driven them to the event today. But that’s only because it was out of the way and he and Makoto don’t have their licenses yet. Obviously.)

“What?” asks Haru, as politely as he can manage. This, admittedly, is not the most welcoming of tones.

The stranger hesitates. Haru sees him open his mouth and close it a few times, like he’s not sure what to say. Then finally. “I saw you on the cross-country course. You’re _good_. What club are you from?”

“Not from a club,” says Haru, looking away and fiddling with the grass again.

“Where’s your horse from? Who’s the breeder?”

Haru shrugs. “She’s a rescue.”

“What’s her name?” asks the boy. He motions to himself, then his horse. “I’m Matsuoka Rin, and this is _His Majesty Victorious_. He’s from Australia, so his name is English.”

“Cool,” says Haru, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “This is Puddles.”

Rin snickers. “Puddles? Seriously?”

Haru glowers at him. “Yes.”

“And who’re you?”

“Haruka.”

 _His Majesty Victorious_ leans over to sniff Puddles’ tail, and Rin tightens his hold on the reins. “Don’t be rude, Victorious.”

“It’s fine. She’ll just kick him if he gets too close,” says Haru.

“Right, I saw her ribbon,” says Rin. “But Victorious doesn’t know what it means.”

It’s just then that Haru looks up over Puddles’ back and notices the blue ribbon on the bay’s tail. What the hell is this brat doing with a stallion? He stands up and keeps his hand on Puddles’ halter, just in case.

Luckily, Makoto returns in almost the same moment and Rin is forced to move out of the way for him to get in between Clover and Puddles with the buckets. He puts them down, then reaches up to rub Clover between the ears.

“Hey, beautiful girl. Did you miss me?” She lifts her nose and nuzzles the top of his head, nibbling his hair gently. He laughs fondly, then turns back to look at the rest of them. “Oh. Who’s this, Haru?”

Haru doesn’t answer, and looks at Puddles instead. Surely she can see how silly this all is, too.

“I’m Matsuoka Rin, and this is _His Majesty Victorious_!”

Will he _ever_ stop this?

“Nice to meet you, Rin. I’m Tachibana Makoto, and this is—” He falters. “W-well, actually, her show name is German, so it’s kind of hard to pronounce. But we just call her Clover.”

“German…” Rin reaches over and pats Clover’s flank. “She’s a Holsteiner, right? She’s got the legs for it.”

“That’s right! My parents have a stud farm. Clover isn’t really on the same level as some of their other horses, but, well, I’m never going to be a professional—”

“Why not? Didn’t you come first in the showjumping?”

“Well, I’m really too tall and heavy…” Makoto laughs. “It was Clover, not me.”

“A good horse won’t get far without a good rider,” says Rin. “Everyone knows that.”

Haru treads off to get one of the sponges and dunks it in the bucket, starting to soak the saddle marks off Puddles’ back. If Rin manages to get involved with Makoto, then he won’t have any choice but to acknowledge him. Still, maybe Rin will just go away. Maybe they won’t see each other at shows again. Maybe—

“You’d want to? That’s fine, right, Haru?”

Sensing danger, Haru turns his head slowly. “What’s fine?”

Makoto smile. “Rin says he’d like to ride with us some time. He trains over the other side of town, but he’s got his license so he could bring Victorious to us.”

“Would that be a good idea?” asks Haru, meaningfully. “What with your parents’ broodmares…”

“Haru, we never ride near the broodmares.” Makoto is still smiling, but in a way that tells Haru he knows _exactly_ what he’s trying to pull. “We go down the beach half the time. Do you want Rin to come?”

 _No,_ thinks Haru, and Makoto knows it. But he just shrugs. “If he really wants. But not if Puddles or Clover are in season.”

Rin laughs. “I’m not _stupid_. I have to be careful with a stallion anyway; I’d never be that irresponsible.”

Haru stares at him. Is he trying to impress him, or just prove he’s better? Does he want to be friends, or rivals, or what?

“I’d like to train with you,” Rin says. “Dressage is my main event—”

Haru nods to himself. _Called it._

“—but I’m an all-rounder. I love the cross-country.” Rin tilts his head and gives Haru a smile that makes his heart jolt for a second. “I want to train with you. We could start a club, maybe.”

“Maybe,” says Haru, bending over to look for a towel to dry Puddles with.

Eventually, Makoto finds it for him and hands it over. “That could be fun. There’s no club in our area yet.”

“So it’s settled.” Rin sounds a little giddy, and puts his free hand on his hip proudly. “Haru, give me your phone number.”

 _Wait a minute._ Haru blinks. Is that what all this was about? It would explain the awkwardness, and the showing off, and everything, really. So it’s just too bad that—

“Oh, Haru doesn’t use his phone, really,” Makoto cuts in. That traitor. “I’ll give you mine, if you like. Since we’re always together.”

Is that… smugness? From Makoto. Haru is starting to think he should have just stayed in bed.

“Well, that’s—actually—I was going to ask for it, anyway.” Rin clears his throat, and takes out his phone from his jacket pocket. Victorious sniffs it curiously, as if it might be a treat. “Go on; tell me, then.”

Puddles is mostly dry now, her black and white coat still slightly glossy. Haru throws her cover over her back and clips it on carefully around her back legs. Then he sinks back down into the grass. It’s a little too late now to keep from getting involved with Rin, but he doesn’t have to like it. Or even think about it.

…Only he does think about it. And think about it. And think about it.


End file.
